Lily pressed her lips together for a moment. ‘I’m going to speak to Dominique about making you a protein shake. If you won’t eat breakfast, then at least you can drink it.’
He held her gaze in that assessing way of his. ‘Are you usually this bossy with your clients?’
‘Only the childish ones.’
His brows lifted a fraction. ‘You have a smart mouth, Miss Archer.’
Lily held her ground even though his green-flecked eyes were boring into hers. ‘I speak as I find.’
‘Tell me something...’ He paused as his gaze continued to hold hers. ‘Has that quick tongue of yours ever got you into trouble?’
She kept her spine straight and her shoulders neatly aligned. ‘Not lately.’
A beat of silence passed.
‘It won’t work, you know.’
She looked at him blankly. ‘Excuse me?’
His mouth curled up at one corner in a cynical manner. ‘I can almost hear the cogs of that clever little brain of yours clicking over. You think if you’re unpardonably rude to me it will make me send you packing before the week’s trial is up. You want to take the money and run, don’t you, Miss Archer?’
Lily wondered if he could read minds or if he was just much more cynical than she had realised. ‘I don’t believe in taking money I haven’t earned. And, as for being unpardonably rude, I think you’ve already got the headmaster’s prize for that.’
A satirical smile tilted his mouth. ‘You’re a spirited little thing under that demure façade, aren’t you?’
She threw him a haughty look. ‘I expect the only spirits you’re used to seeing in the vacuous women you surround yourself with are the ones you pour into a glass.’
For a moment Lily thought she had gone too far. She saw his eyes harden and his jaw tighten. But then he suddenly threw back his head and laughed. It was a nice sound, rich, deep and melodic. It made the fine hairs on the back of her neck lift up and do a little jiggle. It made something that was tightly knotted in the pit of her stomach work its way loose.
Careful, the new girl reminded her. Watch your step. Keep your guard up.
Lily turned briskly for the door. ‘I’ll go and see about that protein shake.’
‘Miss Archer?’
She turned and faced him. ‘Yes?’
He held her gaze for what seemed to her an interminable pause. But, whatever he had planned to say, he left unsaid. His lingering smile gradually faded until it completely disappeared from his mouth and his frown returned. ‘Close the door on the way out.’
CHAPTER FOUR
THE GYM WAS in a sunny room on the eastern side of the house. It was well-equipped, with every modern piece of equipment an exercise junkie could wish for. Lily trailed her hand over the state-of-the-art treadmill. She wondered if Raoul would ever use it again as it was intended to be used. He didn’t look like the sort of person who would ever be satisfied to walk at a sedate pace. Those long, strong legs were made for hard physical exercise. She had caught a glimpse of his muscular thighs when she had run into him in the corridor last night. If he didn’t—or couldn’t—do specific exercises to maintain or increase strength, he would lose that impressive definition.
The change to his life was unimaginable. For a man who had chased adventure and women simultaneously, he was going to find any sort of restriction difficult to manage.
Lily thought yet again of his ex-fiancée. What type of woman was Clarissa that she could just walk away from him when he was struck down? It seemed so shallow and selfish. Raoul said he hadn’t been in love with her, but Lily wondered if that was a way of dismissing or disguising the hurt he felt. How could he not feel some measure of hurt? It was like being kicked when you were already down.
She had seen many relationships flounder as a result of a person’s injury. It wasn’t just the injuries that changed people; it was the experience of confronting their own mortality. A period of reassessment nearly always occurred after a traumatic event. Relationships were either severed or secured, lifetime patterns were changed or adjusted, careers were either abandoned or taken in a new direction. It was a very unsettling time for the patient as well as their loved ones.
Was that why Raoul had locked himself away in his secluded château—so he could reflect on what had happened to him?
He was a complex man, deeply layered, with a keen intelligence to match those strong, observant eyes. It would test her sorely to spend the whole month with him. She couldn’t help feeling he was toying with her, allowing her a week to prove herself, keeping her on tenterhooks, all the while luring her into his invisible web.